Really pushing HIPAA with this one, but with good cause
Yeah the sticker sentence especially. That’s essentially the same as saying that the kid got the shot. HIPAA doesn’t say “it’s ok to reveal private health information as long as you do it in a wink-wink manner.” Revealing personally identifiable health information is forbidden no matter how you do it.
Even agreeing that her son was at the doctor was a violation. We can’t confirm or deny that a potential patient even came to the building for health care.
They could probably get away with simply saying “I would never recommend any advice that goes against verified safe medical practices.”
See now, I decided I could read that as “your son deserved a bravery sticker for having to bear up with you as a mom.”
Since the mom made the visit itself public, and lied about the conversation, and the nurse didn’t specify what either person DID say, nor what actually was or wasn’t done, I’m not sure any new information was revealed. Implied, if you want to infer it, but not stated. And for the mom to sue about it, she’d have to publicly admit to her own lies…
There is no law against lying.
I hopethis helps.
I know lying isn’t against the law. (Although I’m neither a legal nor medical professional.) I meant she would be deterred from suing because the extent of her lies would have to be aired in court, in public, in order to prove the nurse revealed information.
In the case you linked, the nurse posted information about a rare case (ergo easily identified) whereas in OP’s situation the publicly identifying information had already been revealed by the mother and the nurse didn’t specify any new facts about the case itself. She might still get in trouble but it’s less cut and dried than the case in your link. Imvho.
I think she’s good with “I absolutely did not say that”.
I suspect this is a double reverse “and everybody clapped” moment.
Psst…the responder isn’t really the nurse from the story. It’s someone pretending to be the nurse and blurring names so that they can rile you up.
I would certainly hope so, for everyone’s sake.
That nurse’s name?
Albert Einstein.
But …did everybody clap
Please clap.
Well, everyone got the clap. Does that count?
US Marine
Ragebait folks. Yes it might exist out in the wild but do something better with your time.
It already read like one of those “and then they all clapped” posts.
That last comment is 100% actionable by both her employer and the patient.
Don’t be dumb with that shit. Judges don’t fucking listen to it was just a joke wink wink unless you have some good fucking lawyers.
Can you explain how exactly? They only mentioned that they gave them a sticker at the end of the appointment.
Is it purely the fact that they admitted there was an appointment?
Yep. That’s a HIPAA violation.
I don’t agree.
Protected Health Information, PHI, includes anything used in a medical context that can identify patients. Although it doesn’t explicitly address personally identifiable information, the HIPAA Security Rule regulates situations like this under the term Protected Health Information (PHI). Some examples of PHI data can include:
- Name
- Address
- Date of birth
- Credit card number
- Driver’s license
- Medical records
None of those were revealed. If some intrepid ambulance chaser wants to argue “i gave your son a sticker” is a “medical record”, go for it. Hell in some Bumblefuck red state county you might get in front of a judge with that. But you will not be making any money off of it, and no serious attorney would waste the court’s time.
Confirming someone is a patient without consent is a violation.
Edit: but the mom did open the door I suppose so maybe not.
Yep.
Right, the medical records were revealed, and probably the name was revealed. This discussion is taking place in context, so if a reader can scroll up and see the kid’s name in the previous post, now they know something about what happened to that kid medically on that day at that time at that place.
In these types of situations you have to look at other readily information and use common sense to determine what a reader could find out.
Because there’s often extraneous information available to outsiders, any medical employee worth their salt would decline to give any information about any patient without running it through the proper channels to make sure everything is anonymized or a waiver is signed.
- the judge wouldn’t be in bumble fuck, TN or anywhere else other than in a civil rights case brought by the department of health and human services in DC. You’d be charged in federal court.
- disclosing information that relates to the “a) treatment, b) payment, or c) operations” (not medical procedures, that’s under “treatment” - this is things like quality assurance and training) need to have a client authorization for disclosure.
Strictly speaking, this nurse confirmed the identity of a specific individual that received a _specific treatment_ at a specific facility (her employer) to a public forum, all without the authorization of the client. Any compliance office would hang the nurse out to dry, even as a proactive measure, to mitigate a potential unauthorized disclosure claim.
I see, i see, a federal case even. Mmm.
So, counselor, what was the specific treatment then?
Laws are generally not stupid enough to allow magic wording loopholes.
If it’s obvious that the nurse saying they gave the boy a “brave boy” sticker means the boy got a vaccine, that’s the same thing as saying he got a vaccine.
Compare to hypothetical statements like
“I can’t say what procedure she got, but she’s going to need to keep buying tampons for the next 9 months”
“I can’t say what procedure they got, but they’ll definitely need to sit to pee from now on.”
“I can’t say what procedure he got, but keep strong magnets away from his chest.”
If you want to claim VaxBatCrazy59’s son had an appointment, do it. If you think you can win that case (and btw what case is that?) then bring it. Assuming you’re a DA with nothing better to do.
The nurse may well never work in healthcare again.
It’s been a while since I saw a good “and everybody applauded” moment. Thank you for that lol
EDIT: Just clicked and saw the second part, whomp whomp
“and everybody applauded”
Just what I came here to point out. I’m such a hero!
No way a nurse is responding to a post like this. This is a troll who came across a public post and is pretending to be the nurse, blacking out names, and posting this elsewhere for the updoots.
Don’t know that I’ve ever done a Riker in here before…
I am so not antivax, but there is definitely a problem for the nurse.
No there isn’t.
Posting patient information on social media is a HIPAA violation if you do not have the patient’s authorization because it discloses individually identifiable health information to the public that could be used to commit fraud or identity theft.
“Yes, I’m VaxBatCrazy59’s son, and I would like to purchase this motorcycle. My identification? Of course, it’s all right here in a now-deleted facebook post. You can confirm with NightNurse1985. Of course, i’ll wait.”
This even specifically says there’s nothing in HIPPA that mentions social media. This (law? Policy? What is the . . crime? . . again?) has all the solidity of soup.
I’m sure you know better than my last course instructors, I’ll be sure to pass that along to them.
Yeah send them this and then post what they say. I’d be interested.
I already know since it was hammered home each class for the entire course.
What is the problem, for the nurse, then?
Wait - this nurse is an anti-vaxxer? Or this is some other thing?
mom was so brave
Question is, why would mom feel compelled to lie about her kids getting a vaccine?
Because she’s friends with tons of antivaxxers on fb or in real life and is saving face
It’s not even saving face. She could just say nothing and nobody would know. She’s an attention whore and wants the good fee-fees from people telling her how great she is.
Fair point
Virtue signaling for her MAGA Karen Klan.
Have that printed on his headstone
They should have consistently coloured the redactions to match the characters. This was so hard to read.
